“Enough is Enough: It Is Time for Francis to Resign” June 27, 2016

I didn’t say it; a writer at Fox News did, meaning the concerns over Francis’ pontificate are spreading beyond the trad community and even conservative corners of the Church, and into the mainstream. However, I find the notion of papal resignation, reinvigorated by the star-crossed Pope Benedict, to be deplorable, sending a very wrong message about the message of the papacy as an administrative role filled for a time and not a specific office created by Our Blessed Lord for a chosen individual to fulfill faithfully for life (among other things).

Nevertheless, this is an extremely interesting piece, as the author notes several problems with Francis’ most recent outrageous (and destructive, if not overtly heterodox) statements on most marriages being invalid (my emphasis and (too many) comments):

For a “pope of the people” he certainly doesn’t give Catholics much credit. For a Catholic marriage to be valid all that is needed is the freedom to marry, consent from both parties, and the intention to marry for life and be open to children. That’s it…….[I would simply add that virtually all progressives have an extremely low view of their fellow man, in spite of – or perhaps generating – their protestations to the contrary. That’s why they are progressives, they want the almighty state (made up of individuals, the same they hold in such low repute) to be almighty, because they basically believe people are too stupid and dangerous to conduct their own affairs. Which, again, may be more a reflection of themselves than anything else]

For Pope Francis to say the great majority of marriages are null implies that the great majority of Catholic are ignorant fools who cannot understand the responsibilities of a bedrock of society that has existed for thousands of years. [Indeed. For hundreds of years, even the most illiterate peasants were able to comprehend what marriage is and faithfully live out the Sacrament over their lives. Now, I know the modern education system is awful, but I don’t think most people are quite that ignorant, yet, at least in developed countries. And yet we’re still going to pretend that marriage is just too hard to understand? Please. What this is really about is ideology, and remaking the Church into a progressive, worldly construct. The deconstruction of marriage is just a convenient weapon in that war.]

It also suggests severe doubt in the mercy and grace of God. The rule of thumb when the validity of sacraments, whether it be marriage, the Eucharist or the priesthood, is concerned, is to assume validity unless something clearly contradicts that….[And this used to be virtually impossible to prove, and still is in most countries, that don’t have annulment mill policies like in the US. But let’s face it, annulment mills didn’t appear because people suddenly became fundamentally able to properly commit in the Sacrament, they occurred because millions were choosing divorce and wanted to still be counted as good and devout Catholics. The progressive desire to make a paradise on earth is, in itself, a “severe doubt in the mercy….of God.”]

Francis’ words put the devil’s doubt into the hearts and minds of good Catholic couples who may be going through a rough time, and who instead of saying “We’re Catholic, we’re married, this is until death parts us,” may now say, “Well, the pope says most marriages aren’t valid anyway…maybe ours isn’t either” and give up. [Yep]

Francis’ statement demonstrates a lack of faith in the Church and its ability to vet couples seeking marriage, to teach them about what marriage is, and to administer the sacraments effectively. If most marriages are invalid because couples don’t understand a life-long commitment, does that mean most priestly ordinations are invalid too? If so, are most masses invalid? Most confessions? [Great questions. Does Franky George Bergoglio really want to open the Pandora’s box of questions regarding the validity of Novus Ordo Masses or whole chains of ordinations/consecrations from bad bishops?]

The Church’s authority rests, in part, on its claim to be able to communicate the sacraments and the teachings of Christ. Francis has cast doubt on the former, has done a poor job of the latter, and by doing so has brought the Church’s legitimacy into question. [One more: simply by proclaiming radical new opinions so at odds with the solemn Doctrine of the Faith dating back centuries, Francis communicates that the Church has no idea what it’s talking about now, or then, or never did. And so many souls conclude: it’s a fake, and they’re better off anywhere else.]

His comments come after he dealt more confusion to Catholic marriages by allowing the liberal Cardinal Walter Kasper to take control of last year’s Synod of the Family — who turned the whole thing into a referendum on gay people and communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

Francis made things worse this year with his vague document on the family — Amoris Laetitia — in which he buried the hot topic of divorced and remarried Catholics in a footnote, and muddied the waters some more by saying that such couples could receive sacraments “in certain cases.” When asked to clarify he said “I don’t remember the footnote.” Wonderful. [Did he really say that? If so, it’s probably because the document was written by his gay kissing ghost writer Tucho Fernandez. I also note that lack of intellectual curiosity or mental laziness is a hallmark of the modern left]

Once upon a time Catholics would have been stuck with a bad pope, but since Pope Emeritus Benedict opened the door for a pope resigning when he can no longer do his job, it is time for the faithful to look at Francis and ask — “is this man able to lead the Holy Catholic Church?”

At this point it is clear, Bergoglio has repeatedly proven himself unable to lead, and is doing incalculable damage to the Church that will take decades to heal.

Pope Francis should resign, and Catholics should demand it, so the Church can begin recovering from the havoc his ill-advised and arrogant papacy has wrought.

Look, I get it. Resignation is a quick fix, or feels like one (but will never happen with this guy, who will hold onto power with a grim determination). Enormous damage is being done everyday, and even though another resignation would also harm the office, it might harm it less than this radical pontificate continuing for several more years. Heck, it probably would.

But two wrongs don’t make a right. I will always believe Pope Benedict acted wrongly when he abdicated, that he violated two millennia of tradition and undermined the very nature of the office with his act (even if he was “forced” to do so). Every day he continues to live and function quite well, especially intellectually, the state reasons for his abdication look more and more spare. If Francis resigned (which, he won’t), it would turn a very bad one-off into something of a precedent, the start of a trend, a trend that could do even more damage to the papacy than his day to day promulgation of error.

So, I don’t pray for God to make Francis to resign. I don’t call on him to resign. I also don’t beg God to strike Francis dead. I just ask Him to have mercy on His Church. He sees infinitely more than we ever will, and He knows what His Church needs, and how this will all fit in the plan of salvation for each one of us and the judgment of the world in general. I certainly don’t believe the Lord “picked” Francis in some positive way, but He will use Francis as He uses everything else, to His ultimate end.

I just try more and more everyday to focus on on that reality, on the goodness of our Lord and His mercy for His Church. I am mortified by the damage being done but God is permitting it for some reason. We are deep into the Passion of the Church, which must come before Our Savior may return. Just as with our Blessed Lord and His Passion, the worst persecutions and betrayals come from those within.

May God have mercy on His Church, and bring her the leadership she needs, not what which the world deserves.

Francis, will never resign. First, he likes the power too much. Second, the bishops don’t have the courage to take him on, at least directly. They don’t want what happened to Burke to happen to them. Third, and this might be the most important factor, a good many of them probably think more along Francis’ lines than most Catholics will want to admit. Remember, the College of Cardinals elects the Pope — and, as in any dynamic of organizational leadership, an individual leader reflects the values and attitudes of the leadership cadre, at least to some extent.

He believes in some religion that is at very fundamental variance with the religion I was taught in my Catechism classes in the 50’s. Either one of those two religions is the True one or neither of them are, but they are manifestly not the same.

Bergoglio was sitting in the same classes I was back then. It would appear from this vantage point that he has rejected that which called itself “Catholicism” for about 1960 years.

I really don’t see much difference between his complaint that marriages are invalid because people enter into them thinking they are not permanent, and the office of the Papacy being conferred invalidly because the occupant thinks he can always resign.

Pray for obstinate Pope Francis to convert. Let go of inclinations of physical violence to be inflicted on Francis. Don’t cuss Francis. In other words don’t let Francis be the reason you sin. Turn the other cheek and pray. Offer sacrifices and pennances. When the time is right Christ will take Francis. Hopefully Francis has the grace of conversion. Always, always trust in Jesus and offering the sufferings of this papacy to Jesus crucified.

Pathetic!..but unfortunately not such a rare monologue….I have heard much the same from many pulpits about the same topics that Francis now is justly being criticized for. So now, after so much brainwashing we end up with a cults instead of parishes.

Tantum, it’s audio of a sermon from Fr. Larry Richards. Essentially, it’s Papal idol worship. He went so far as to praise Amoris Laetitia as “wonderful.” Apparently, there were priests of Richards’ acquaintance who’ve been voicing their displeasure with Francis and Richards sees it as the kind of back-biting St. Paul warns against.